Two Paths
by batastrophe
Summary: Enzo Matrix is about to leave for the Guardian Academy and everyone in Mainframe has shown up to see him off, including Matrix. Enzo was given a second chance that Matrix never was. It may not have been fair, and it may not be easy, but they were given a chance to walk two paths. Explores the relationship between Little Enzo and Matrix.


**So I wrote this thing back in 2012 and it's been kicking around on my hard drive ever since. I just rediscovered it, and since I just posted a fanfiction for the first time in years, I figured now is as good a time as any to publish it. It may be a tad cheesy, but eh, make of it what you will.**

**This is a series of short pieces about the relationship between Little Enzo, or Enzo, and Matrix. They take place sometime after the events of season 4 have concluded. Now, since the events of season 4 never actually got a conclusion because of the infamous cliffhanger, I'm going to say that some sort of Happy Ending came about, similar to the end of season 3. All our heroes are still processing, the viral threat is over, and we can all go about our lives. I won't go into the detail of how this is (because that's not what this story is about), but just assume that everything is as it "should be."**

**This piece also takes place a couple "years" after season 4 concluded. So if Enzo was around the equivalent of 10 years old at the end of season 4, he's now a teenager.**

**Also, some scenes are vaguely inspired by the comic, but only vaguely. I do not consider that comic to be canon, but there were some interesting ideas in it.**

Two Paths

They were all here. Bob, Dot, Mouse, Phong, and dad in his Null-bot suit. Mike the TV was having a field day, running around with his camera crew and trying to interview everyone. Cecil was swinging from the ceiling, generally ignoring everyone's requests. Everyone he could ever remember from Mainframe had shown up: Hack and Slash, Specky and the other binomes from the principle office, Mr. Mitchell, Al and his waiter, even Old Man Pearson had made an appearance. Even the Pirates had managed to stop by for a while and congratulate him, and had probably lost considerable amount of profit by doing it. And of course there was AndrAIa… and Matrix.

They had the party in the diner. Everyone was wishing him luck, congratulations, telling him to remember to e-mail. Miss Brody, his old schoolteacher, practically broke down into tears saying she was so happy to have the honor of teaching a guardian.

Soon he would be uploaded to the Supercomputer and begin his training at the Academy to become a member of the guardian collective. Soon he would be a real Guardian, like Bob, and then he'd get to travel all over the known net, through systems, peoples, and cities… and away from Mainframe.

It was all so…alphanumeric? But no, it wasn't. When he was younger he'd always imagined going to the Supercomputer, of becoming a guardian and being just like Bob, his hero. And he still wanted that, more than anything. He knew that if he had a reason for being programmed, this was it. But it was…bittersweet.

He glanced over at Matrix, who was leaning against the bar chatting with Mouse and AndrAIa. Matrix and AndrAIa never went anywhere without each other, and it was rare that he ever saw one without the other. They were in love. He was older than he had been, finally old enough to be uploaded to the Supercomputer, to become a guardian, and to also begin to really understand about things like love.

He sighed to himself. It was no good thinking about that, he thought.

But he also felt like… like what? Like it was too easy? He was about to have everything he'd ever wanted, right? But there was Matrix, who was him… and wasn't him at all.

Matrix had once been like Enzo, when Enzo was younger. They had, at that point, been the same sprite. But Matrix had gotten trapped in the games, and instead of becoming a guardian, he had to fight his entire life just to get home.

And Enzo was different now too. Older and more mature. And, he thought with a sinking sensation in his stomach, how Matrix probably would have been if the web had never come to Mainframe. If Daemon hadn't infected the entire net. All these things he'd had to fight for so a different version of himself could come and take them.

/\/\/\/\/\

Matrix was beginning to feel a little sick. There were too many people, too many voices. He walked out of the diner, excusing himself and trying to be polite, and generally making a mess of it since he'd never been very good at polite since he'd gone off in the games. But this was his family, so he tried.

Outside, he found Frisket lying under one of the windows, looking a little lonely and very bored.

"Hey Boy," said Matrix as Frisket bounded over. "Pretty boring out here, huh? Don't worry, it's not that great inside either." Frisket happily lolled his tongue out of his mouth as Matrix scratched him behind the ear.

Behind him, he could hear the door to the diner open and shut and the sound of familiar footsteps coming toward him. "What are you doing out here, lover?" said AndrAIa, placing her hand on his shoulder. "The party's inside."

"Just saying hi to Frisket," he said, turning to her. He held her gaze for a moment, then looked away. He could never hide anything from AndrAIa, no matter how he tried sometimes. "I just… needed some air."

"You haven't said hello to Enzo yet," she said shrewdly, looking hard into his face.

Matrix sighed. "AndrAIa, I just… It's just…"

"Weird?" she finished for him, smiling slightly, and brought her hand up to stroke his cheek.

"Well, yeah," he said, smiling at her touch. "It's just, everything that he has, I wanted it for so long too. And it's even stranger because, he's me. It's like seeing what my life should have been like, playing out in front of me."

"But it wasn't like that," AndrAIa said, "and now we have to keep going with what we have. No regrets, remember?"

Matrix smiled and wrapped his arms around her. "No regrets."

/\/\/\/\/\

As Matrix walked back inside, he found himself face to face with Enzo. It was odd, a little like looking into a mirror that was set a few minutes back in time. Each time he saw Enzo he could never get over seeing his face intact, with two eyes. It was a wonderful and terrifying thing.

AndrAIa walked in a little ways behind him. When she saw Enzo there, she gave Matrix a little nudge with her elbow and then said, "look, there's Dot. I'd better go say hi," and walked away across the crowded diner.

"Uh, hey Matrix," said Enzo a little unsurely.

_No regrets,_ thought Matrix. "Hey Enzo. How's it processing?"

Enzo looked around a little uneasily. "Oh, it's alright," he said.

Matrix raised his eyebrows slightly. "You're not nervous, are you?" he said. It was odd, usually Enzo was the enthusiastic one when they had conversations. He felt an unsettling feeling that their roles had been reversed, a little like déjà vu.

Enzo laughed to himself, "Well, if you were me right now, wouldn't you feel a little nervous?"

They both laughed at the joke, and then Matrix laughed a little more when he realized that, yes, he would be nervous. To finally be a guardian. To be like Bob.

"Hey Matrix? I was wondering, could I talk to you for a nano?"

"Uh, sure," said Matrix. They walked outside.

Outside, Frisket bounded up to them, seemingly doubly excited that there were two Enzos there. Matrix scratched Frisket behind the ears again, and Enzo noticed that they did it in exactly the same way.

"So what's up…" Matrix bit back the last word he'd been about to say. Kid. Because even though Enzo was younger and Matrix always saw him as somehow incomplete, he really wasn't a kid any longer. Matrix remembered what it was like to be that age, what a sprite that age could be capable of doing… what he had been capable of. No, not a kid.

Frisket jumped up toward Enzo, and Enzo stalled for a few moments by giving Frisket a few pats on the head and scratching under his collar. Matrix had a feeling he knew what Enzo wanted to talk about. It was the same thing that had been worrying him all day. So he said, "You've done all right, you know. You've made it to the Supercomputer, the Academy. You should be proud." Enzo smiled inwardly. He knew that when Matrix said that, it was his way of saying that he was proud of Enzo, even though he could never say that. After all, Enzo knew Matrix better than anyone, except AndrAIa. He frowned a little at that.

"I am, I mean, I'm glad," said Enzo. "You know that. But… I guess I wanted to ask…"

Matrix cut him off before he could finish. "It's OK Enzo." The name sounded strange on his tongue. He had never gotten used to calling Enzo by his own name, even if it was right. Somehow calling him Little Enzo had been better, but no one had called him that for seconds. "You've earned it. You saved us all from Daemon, and you helped beat back Megabyte. And it was because of you that Hexadecimal changed your icon so you could bring dad back. I could never have managed that," he said, shaking his head.

"Yeah," said Enzo, "but that's not the point. You did all sorts of other things, more than I've ever done. You brought Bob home…"

"And so would you," said Matix. "I of all people can tell you that. Besides, it doesn't matter. Even if the web never came to Mainframe, Daemon was still infecting the guardians. If I'd gone to the academy, I would have been infected too." As Matrix said this, it was as though he were realizing it for the first time. "The timing just couldn't have worked out for me," he said. In a way, it was a relief to say it. It was lifting this burden from his shoulders, the weight of the knowledge that he'd failed to do it right, failed to become a guardian and became instead a renegade. It had always haunted him, the idea that his family wouldn't approve of him, how he had to get bigger, stronger, become a person that could never be trained or conform… never could become a guardian.

Enzo had been looking more and more relieved as Matrix talked, which made Matrix feel a bit self-satisfied. It wasn't often that he succeeded in making sprites feel better when he talked to them. Emboldened, Matrix continued. "But now you have a chance," he said. "AndrAIa and I already had our turn, now it's yours."

Enzo's face fell a little. "What?" asked Matrix, confused. Had he said something wrong?

"It's nothing," said Enzo, a bit of a flush coming to his cheeks. "Just… AndrAIa."

"What about her?" asked Matrix, confused.

"Well… promise not to tell her?" said Enzo. Matrix nodded. "It's just, you and AndrAIa are together," he said, as though that would explain everything.

"Yes…" said Matrix, still not comprehending. "We are." Ironically, he wished AndrAIa were here to decode what Enzo was saying. She'd always been better at understanding sprites than he had.

"Well, that's just it," said Enzo, blushing harder. "You have AndrAIa…but who will I have?"

_Ah_, thought Matrix, realization dawning. He thought back, and remembered what it was like to be with AndrAIa when he was Enzo's age. Their relationship had always been so easy, so natural. He credited AndrAIa for that, but thinking back it was hard to pinpoint when their friendship had grown into something _more_.

Matrix stood there silently for a moment. He really didn't know how to respond. Part of him wanted to be angry, and was, but then again… how could he be angry at himself for loving AndrAIa? He'd never loved anyone else, at least not like he loved AndrAIa.

Enzo was still blushing, his cheeks turning an unusual mix of purple and red on green. He was afraid of what Matrix would say. Even though Matrix was obviously in love with AndrAIa, it was something he rarely talked about, and had a hard time guessing how Matrix would respond.

"Well, I'm sure AndrAIa would be flattered," began Matrix halting. "But…"

"I know," interrupted Enzo. "But she's with you. And it's right that she's with you, because it's you she loves, she was with you in the games, the web. And I _know_ all that. But…" he paused, in case Matrix decided to say anything, but Matrix remained quiet. "I just wonder to myself sometimes, I think, Bob and Dot, they're perfect for each other. And Mouse and Ray were practically programmed to be together. And you and AndrAIa… and I think, what if there's only one sprite? Can you imagine being with anyone else?" Matrix looked down at the ground. "Exactly," said Enzo. "So I just wonder if I _could _be with anyone else. And if I can't, that just means I'll be alone."

Matrix sighed and shifted uneasily on his feet. It felt uncomfortable to talk about love with anyone other than AndrAIa, because she _made_ it so comfortable… but then again, he could talk to himself, couldn't he? "I couldn't be with anyone else. I can't imagine it ever being otherwise," he began, "But that's me. Not you." He took a deep breath and looked around, trying to pluck the words from thin air. "I know what it's like to feel alone. But I was lucky, I had AndrAIa, so I didn't have to be alone again…" he paused, thinking, "but it could have been different. The game that AndrAIa was in, it was a game Dot didn't want me to go into. But I didn't listen and went in anyway." Enzo grinned, knowing exactly what Matrix was talking about. "But I might not have gone in. Or the User could have downloaded a different game. Or not played a game at all that second. Or Bob and Dot ReBooted in the submarine and me in the water… there's so many ways things could have been different. And though I'd never want thing to be different for me… they're different for you."

Enzo looked sadly at him. "But you said you couldn't imagine begin with anyone else. How can I?"

"Because we're not the same sprite anymore, remember? We've both changed a lot since we were that little sprite. What's right for me isn't necessarily going to be right for you. We know what would have happened to me if I hadn't gotten trapped in the games…we can see how you turned out." Enzo looked uneasy. "But no one can ever know how AndrAIa would have turned out if she'd gotten to stay in Mainframe too" Matrix continued. Enzo looked like he was thinking about this. "We walk…different paths. We were lucky and got two tries. Luckier than most."

Enzo sighed, but seemed in a slightly lighter mood than before. "Maybe you're right," he said as he squared his shoulders. "Guess we'd better go back inside."

Enzo began walking back to the diner and just before he went in turned back, "Thanks, Matrix," he said. "I'm glad we got to walk two paths."

/\/\/\/\/\

When Matrix came back into the diner he walked over to AndrAIa, who was standing in the back of the room observing the guests. "Looks like Ray and the pirates are having another eating contest," she said. Matrix looked over at one of the booths, where Ray Tracer was pumping the air with his fist as a pirate stuffed donuts into his mouth.

"At least they're not having a drinking contest," said Matrix.

AndrAIa laughed, "No, Dot wouldn't allow it in the diner, not to mention Cecil." Cecil was currently swaying above the booth with a cloth and apparently trying to clean up the mess, while looking especially haggard and unamused. "Not that Cecil could stop it if he wanted to," added AndrAIa. They watched the spectacle for a few nanos more as a pirate fell out of his seat, his stomach bulging. "So, how was talking to Enzo?" AndrAIa asked. "You guys were out there for a while."

Matrix hesitated. "It was… interesting."

"Oh? Do tell."

"Well, he seemed to want, I don't know, permission from me. I think he feels bad that he gets to go the Academy when I didn't."

"And what did you say?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I told him not to worry about it." She raised her eyebrow higher. "No really, I was… nice, I think. I just figured I'm talking to myself, so I can't be embarrassed, right?"

AndrAIa laughed and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. "So what else did you talk about?" she asked slyly.

"Nothing…" he said, but once again found his eyes sliding to the ground. "Nothing much," he amended.

"Oh really?" she said, smirking.

Matrix sighed, and feeling supremely stupid, said "I'm not supposed to tell you."

AndrAIa smiled more widely. "It was about me then?"

Matrix smiled at her and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Well, it was _supposed _to be a secret."

"Ah, so it _was_ about me," she said, slipping her arm underneath his and wrapping around his back.

"Nothing bad," he said, "we were just talking. You know, guy stuff."

AndrAIa raised her eyebrow. "Is this about the crush Enzo's had on me?" she asked.

"Hey," Matrix said, pulling away, "How'd you know about that?"

"Oh, Sparky, it's been obvious for seconds. You didn't notice?" she asked, smirking.

"Well, no," he said, a little dejected.

"Well, I could tell. But don't worry. I've handled it very maturely."

"I guess I just never thought about it. He just always seemed so young."

"You're forgetting that he's compiling up just like we did, even if he's doing it more slowly. And he's lonely, Sparky, can't you tell?" Matrix glanced over to where Enzo was talking to Phong. "Here we are," she continued, "at a party in his honor, and there's not a single sprite his age here. And there hasn't been since he was recompiled. You remember what it was like to be alone. And so do I," she added.

"Yeah, but he's talking about love," said Matrix, "It's like he thinks that there's no one else he could ever be with because I'm with you. I just wanted a friend when I was a little sprite."

"I don't know," said AndrAIa, "I know I loved you from the moment we met." She reached up and stroked a finger under his chin, careful not to scrape him with her fingernails. Matrix felt the thrill of the old uneasiness he felt with AndrAIa back when they were younger and still game-hopping, of her absolute honesty and frankness about how she felt for him, and his old uncertainty and embarrassment. She saw the look on his face and chuckled. "But you didn't always love me," she said laughingly.

"What do you mean?" said Matrix, "of course I love you."

"I know _that_, Enzo," she said, "but when we were little, I was your friend. You didn't start to think of me as anything else until later." She glanced meaningfully at the younger Enzo across the diner. "Not until you were about as old as he is now. Which is why it makes sense that he wants someone to love."

Matrix sighed. "It's just all too complicated."

"It always is, lover," she said happily. "Don't worry, he'll be fine. He'll find someone right for him. After all, we found each other."

**Author's Note:**

**Sorry if that felt abrupt or anything, but I wrote this two or three years ago, so this is going to be it. Reviews are always appreciated, and I hope you enjoyed it!**


End file.
